ABOUT NATURAL DYES
The art of natural dyeing
Natural dyes are colours derived from plants, minerals, and other materials found in the natural world. Long before synthetic pigments existed, all colour came from the land. Roots, bark, leaves, flowers, and even insects were used to create lasting colour in cloth and textiles, each with its own character and rhythm.
Unlike synthetic dyes, which are designed for uniformity and permanence, natural dyes behave in relation to their environment. The same plant can yield different tones depending on soil, season, water, and process. Colour is not fixed, but responsive. It develops slowly, deepens over time, and may soften with wear and light.
This way of working is rooted in traditions across cultures, many of them shaped by generations who understood how to work with what was available in their surroundings. Knowledge of plants, seasons, and materials was essential, not only for creating colour, but for maintaining a relationship with the land itself.
History of natural colour
Natural dyeing is as old as textile making itself. Archaeological evidence shows that people were colouring textiles with plant and mineral dyes thousands of years ago, long before written records. Traces of dyed fibres have been found in ancient sites across Asia, Africa, and South America, suggesting that the ability to extract and fix colour from the natural world developed independently across cultures.
Some of the earliest known dyes were already highly sophisticated. Indigo, derived from plants such as Indigofera, was used in ancient India and later spread across trade routes into Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. Madder, a root that produces reds ranging from soft rose to deep brick, was cultivated across Asia and Europe for centuries. In parts of Central and South America, cochineal, a dye derived from insects, produced some of the most vibrant reds known to the textile world.
These dyes were not only aesthetic but deeply embedded in cultural, social, and economic systems. Certain colours were rare and labour-intensive, making them valuable trade goods or symbols of status. Knowledge of how to grow dye plants, prepare fibres, and achieve lasting colour was often closely held and passed down through generations. Over time, natural dyes became part of vast global trade networks, with indigo, madder, weld, and other materials moving between continents, shaping economies and influencing agricultural practices. Entire regions became known for specific colours or techniques, from indigo in India and West Africa to intricate resist-dyeing traditions in Japan and Indonesia.
This long history began to shift in the mid-19th century with the rise of synthetic dyes, following discoveries in organic chemistry. Synthetic pigments offered something natural dyes could not easily provide at scale: consistency, brightness, and speed, and within a few decades, industrial dyeing largely replaced traditional methods in many parts of the world. Still, natural dyeing never fully disappeared. In some regions, it continued as a living tradition, while in others it has been revived by artists and craftspeople seeking to reconnect with slower, more place-based ways of making. Today, natural dyes exist both as a continuation of ancient knowledge and as a counterpoint to modern production systems.
Image source: The Illustrated Dictionary of Gardening (1884), "Flowering Branches of Podolepis Aristata".
The relationship between fibre and dye
Natural dyes exist in relationship with the fibre they are used on, and they only combine well with natural fibres. Protein fibres such as wool and silk readily bind with colour, while plant-based (cellulose) fibres like cotton, hemp, and linen require more preparation to properly receive and hold dye. This is why processes such as scouring and mordanting are essential, not as added steps, but as part of working in alignment with the material itself.
Colour is also shaped by place. The same plant can yield different tones depending on the soil it was grown in, the minerals in the water, and the conditions in which it is processed. Even the time of harvest matters, with early growth, full maturity, and seasonal decline each offering their own variations. Natural dyeing is therefore not just about the plant, but about the environment surrounding it.
There is also a logic of use and reuse. Many natural dyes come from materials that would otherwise be discarded, such as onion skins, avocado pits, or pruned plant matter. After dyeing, these materials can often return to the soil, becoming part of a continuous cycle rather than a waste stream. The process does not need to be extractive to be effective.
At the same time, natural dyes come with limitations. Not all colours hold equally over time. Some yellows and softer tones are more sensitive to light and wear, while deeper blues and reds tend to be more stable. These shifts are part of the nature of the material, not a failure of it.
Working with natural dyes is not about control or exact repetition. It is a process of collaboration, where the outcome is shaped by countless small variables rather than a fixed formula. There is a moment, often subtle, where the textile is lifted from the dye bath and exposed to air, and the colour begins to deepen or change before your eyes. It is in these moments that the process reveals itself, not as something imposed, but as something unfolding.
Image source: Medical Botany (1832), "Blue and purple flowered artichoke, Cynara scolymus".